Dawn
by The Increasing
Summary: Death is never what it seems... And there is always just a little light at the end of the tunnel.
1. Chapter 1

**Just a trailer.**

 **RWBY belongs to RT and is the creation of Monty Oum, Miles Luna, Kerry Shawcross and many others.**

* * *

"Come on, guys! We'll be late!", a feminine voice shouted out in something between impatience and joy. Though hardened just a bit by age and war, the sheer joy and enthusiasm in the young woman's face would remind anyone who knew her of her younger years.

"Slow down, Ruby! Yang! Tell her to slow down! I'm not running on these hills!", the somewhat older young woman angrily shouted at her blonde friend as the black haired Faunus smiled fondly. So many years, and Weiss _still_ thought (or hoped) that Ruby's enthusiasm could be cooled by anyone. Yang simply laughed out loud at Weiss's entreaty, causing the white haired Huntress to pout glumly.

 _Poor girl._

Team RWBY continued to follow their leader over the hill, stopping only to help Weiss with the more dangerous parts. While her gait was much better, the doctors had clearly said that she would never heal totally. Aura made the wound close enough to help her fight at top form, but normal walking was a chore on these hills.

In a few minutes, they had reached the valley and Weiss had given up on making the 23 year old behave like an adult. Ruby cheerfully led them to the fields at the end of the road with a couple of farmers still working on them. The shorter farmer lifted his head and grinned when Ruby called, shouting at the taller, blonde one.

Jaune Arc turned to look, then grinned and waved wildly as he saw his friends arrive. Within seconds, Ruby had tackled him in a hug that left her hanging in the air. Jaune let out a chuckle and hugged back as the rest of them arrived.

"How're you doing, Vomit Boy? Heard the missus has some good news to tell us?", Yang's eyebrows wiggled suggestively, making Jaune turn the slightest tinge of red as he scratched, making Ruby fall back to the ground.

"Yeah Jaune! Isn't this great? When can we see her? Can we do it now? Please!", Ruby's enthusiasm was utterly infectious. Jaune scratched his head again, smile turning bashful.

"Right now, as a matter of fact. She's with her mother in the house. Wait, hold up a second, why don't you guys wait until dinner as well? Ren and Nora have already left again, so the guest rooms are empty. It's been months since we met last, and both of us would love to talk about everything going on."

He began to lead them to a large wooden cottage coloured in red and golden besides the fields. Ruby and Yang seemed eager to stay for dinner, but Weiss went a shade paler at the thought.

"Not today, I'm afraid. I'm sure we cannot spare so much time what with all the unrest everywhere, and Grimm and bandits and whatnot. Maybe next time? You can even drop by the Schnee Manor!"

Jaune's face looked put out, but Blake and Yang came to the rescue like noble Knights saving a damsel from a dragon.

"Oh come one, girl. There's plenty of Huntsmen still around. We won't be missed!", Yang cheerfully put her robotic arm on the woman's shoulder, making her roll her eyes. Blake chipped in.

"Well, it's not like we couldn't use some rest to maintain operational effectiveness. We've been on the field for months in a row. We may begin slipping on the job, and then where would we be?"

Weiss huffed and smiled, letting the matter rest. They drew up to the pretty little cottage and Jaune quickly unlatched the door. Inside , they could hear the sounds of kitchen implements and steam. Ruby enthusiastically sniffed the aroma of good food coming out and even Blake and Weiss perked up.

Jaune hastened to open the door quickly, his hand on the handle... Before it opened right then, hitting him in the forehead and laying him out cold on the floor.

"Hello again!", Cinder Fall said cheerfully, waving at team RWBY. When it suddenly came to her that they were looking at the ground next to her feet rather than her, she followed their gaze to see her husband slowly getting up while rubbing his temple, eyes unfocused. She winced, a hand coming to her mouth.

"I'm sorry", she winced. RWBY merely blinked in confusion for a few moments, before they began to smile at the scene.

* * *

A few minutes later, Jaune had recovered enough to heal himself and all of them moved inside the house. Cinder was alternating between smiling whenever someone asked about the baby, smiling apologetically to Jaune and helping her husband set down a meal for their guests.

"No, the cream is working wonders for me. You can barely even see the scars anymore. And that's if you are looking. I cannot thank you enough for sending me the cream.", the black haired woman smiled gratefully at Weiss while laying out a plate of cookies along with warm coffee for everyone. Jaune, Blake and Ruby opted for just milk while Yang was simply taking some cold water.

"Oh, that's not an issue. How's the arm? I presume it's not giving you trouble?", Weiss casually sipped the coffee, her walking stick deposited on the nearby wall where the Collie was sniffing it carefully. "And thank you for handling everything on such short notice."

"Oh, it's no problem. And the arm is functioning perfectly. Shall I bring her out now?"

Everyone assented loudly, making her leave and come back a few seconds later with a small bundle of clothes in her arms. The noise in the room hushed. Slowly, carefully, the four girls stood up and walked to the mother. And then they looked inside the clothes at the same time.

There was a tiny sleeping infant nestled within the folds of the clothe. A few small strands of blonde hair were present on it's head as it comfortably snoozed in her mother's arms. She carefully adjusted her daughter just a little so that her head was nestled directly over her breast. The baby opened it's mouth for a second and let out a small noise, to which her mother held her a little tighter. With a small satisfied gurgle, it went back to comfortable sleep.

Four hearts melted as one.

"She's so _small_!", Ruby cooed in a hushed but excited voice.

"Hush, Ruby.", Weiss whispered, her own grin betraying her similar action.

Blake watched with rapt attention, holding a hand just away from it's cheek, almost as if she wanted to touch it but was afraid to. Her golden eyes, so like the child's mother's, were transfixed upon the sleeping bundle.

Yang had a soft smile on her face, her eyes also transfixed. She experimentally held out her arms, and was rewarded to her utter glee by "Cinder" depositing the child into her arms. She nestled the baby as if it were made of spun glass, holding it to her breasts with a reverent awe, her cheeks flushed. The team huddled around, making sure not to wake her up.

This...was why they had fought for the world. This was the thought going through their heads at the same time.

* * *

Dinner that night was a lively affair when the baby woke up. Cinder seemed to be far more relaxed with Yang and Weiss helping to the care of the child. While she had been a warrior when she was a little younger, the stress of raising her first (and far from only if she could help it!) Child had caused her no end of trouble. Her health problems hadn't helped.

Thankfully, her husband had been great help...she took a moment to look at him as he sat besides her holding her hand, simultaneously listening to Weiss explaining the situation in Vale. Every now and then, he looked anxiously at her and she felt a little of her Aura being boosted by his Semblance, removing fatigue.

She smiled, happy at her lot in life as her daughter came back to her arms from Yang.

Cinder Fall, née Pyrrha Nikos, leaned her head on her husband's shoulder with a smile. All was well.

* * *

 **And that's all. Are you interested?**


	2. Waking Up

**Yeah , I'm starting another fic.**

 **Dawn is an idea that I had for a while now. I do not expect this fic to be longer than 25K words or less, but this is a project I wanted to start for quite some time now. So without further ado, let us begin the first story chapter, back a few years ago when the story truly began...**

 **I hope you enjoy.:)**

* * *

 _It was burning her/_ **It was burning her.  
**  
 _She was dying/_ **She was dying.**  
 _  
That woman-_ **she had killed her** _ **...  
**_  
 ** _She was fading away..._**

Consciousness did not come to her in a flash, nor in an artificial room in a lifeless land of shadows. Her bleary eyes opened slowly, and the world swam around her eyes for a while before finally focusing.

She was lying on a small metal single bed with a cheap white blanket thrown over her. The ceiling was faded and old, with old stains of moisture marking it all over. Despite the shabby nature of her abode, she felt more comfortable than she had felt for a very, very long time.

 ** _She was alive...and now all there was to know was that if everything was alright.  
_**  
Her Aura activated, the red light moving across her body like a warm ray of light, healing bruises, torn muscles, fractures and burns. It took more time than she was comfortable with, and she was in a hurry.

The moment she felt the Aura wane, she tried to throw off the blanket and get to her feet. She was unsuccessful at first. The thin and cheap blanket may as well have been made of lead, and her single arm of rotten wood. Finally, she managed to just budge it enough that she could wriggle out. Her bare feet touched the floor, and she tried to put her weight upon it.

She promptly fell on her face.

On the damp wooden floor, she was in a mixed state of frustration and rage when the door to her room opened, and she heard the clink of cutlery being hastily put down followed by quick footsteps. She felt arms being hooked under her armpits as she was raised up and helped back onto the bed.

* * *

Soon, she was lying on the bed with the blanket thrown back onto her. A scalding hot but admittedly delicious soup was being fed to her by the helpful little middle aged woman who had helped her, and was now talking her ear off.

"For the life of me I cannot understand what you young girls nowadays will get up to.", she exclaimed, her green eyes flashing First you go fall in a river and would have drowned if not for those foreign Faunuses, and now that you're here, you start running off again the moment the fancy strikes you! In my day, we knew when to just sit down and take our medicine whenever we were told to. Why, my ma used to-

"Wait!", she croaked out before she got completely lost in tales about this woman's early days. "Where am I?" She asked, her voice still faint and weak.

The woman mercifully stopped talking and gave a sudden guilty look. "Oh, pardon me. I started rambling. You're in the second level of the city. Some cops who were patrolling the area to look for some criminals found you by the fountain, wet and unconscious. Hospitals are too far away, and I am the closest doctor here, and here we are!"

The scarred girl put a hand to her forehead and let out a low groan as she massaged her temple. "I may have drunk a bit too much last night. ", she said sheepishly. "May I have a glass of water, mam? My head's killing me between the hangover and my tumble a minute ago." She looked so pathetic that the upcoming scolding was averted as the doctor handed her a water bottle.

"Here you are, dear. I'm sorry if I was too harsh. But really!", an indignant tone returned to her voice. "A young girl wandering around drunk in the second level of the city? Even if you hadn't done this right around the heels of a terrorist attack on Haven-" the girl's head shot up.

"What terrorist attack?", she asked in horror, her hangover all but forgotten.

If the kind doctor had been a more suspicious woman, she would probably have taken note of that.

As it was, she just tut tutted. "It was a very nasty business. It has barely been an hour since all those police helicopters left for the Academy. I've heard that the Headmaster , Lionheart, was killed by all those White Fang crooks. They had dozens of bombs set up everywhere to destroy the Academy. If not for those Faunus from Menagerie who turned up to warn the police and even went along to fight the terrorists, gods know what would have happened. It's still being cleared up right now, actually. They got most of the crooks, but their leader fled.", she gave a small nod towards the window. "There's a curfew in the city right now. I'm afraid that you won't be able to reach your home right now."

The girl had gone paler and paler as the tale was told. "Were there...any other casualties?", she asked hesitantly.

"None else", came the answer. "And thank the gods for that."

Her face relaxed slowly as she let out a sigh, her face settling into something like grim satisfaction. "I see.", she breathed out, relaxing back onto the bed. "When will the curfew be lifted? I have to go tell my family that I'm safe."

"An hour or so. ", said the doctor, looking worried now. "I am afraid we cannot even call them right now. They will be so worried about you..."

The younger woman smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry about it, mam. I'm a big girl. I'm allowed to spend nights outside. Add in that I'm a Huntress, and my family will not feel scared about me at all."

"A Huntress?", exclaimed the older woman. "Now I come to think of it, I saw you on the TV last year, during the Vytal championship. Your name is Cinder Fall, isn't it? You're a student from Haven."

Cinder Fall smiled. "I'm honoured to know that you've heard of me ,mam. And thank you for helping me, doctor...erm...?"

"Merryweather, dear. ", she answered kindly. "Flora Merryweather."

"Doctor Merryweather.", she finished, before a spasm came across her face. "Uh, my head is killing me. Mind if I sleep the hangover off here, mam?"

"Not at all, Cinder. ", the doctor said, rising to leave. "I'll wake you up when the curfew is lifted. If you wake up before that and need help, press the button by the lamp besides your bed."

Doctor Flora Merryweather got up to give her patient some peace as the girl carefully laid on her back and used her only arm to pull her blanket over herself. Flora felt a surge of pity.

What a shame that such a lovely young girl had been scarred like that.

* * *

Her breaths were ragged and raw. Her only hand was clenched in emotion and she did not trust herself to open her only eye.

Somehow, she didn't know how-

 _Everything worked out.  
_  
 **But that Branwen woman has the Relic. And my spear has almost certainly killed that girl.  
**  
 _It didn't. She said that there were no other deaths. Ozpin would not have the time to run. The rest would not abandon her body. Weiss is alive. Everyone is alive.  
_  
 **You don't know that. I shot to kill-  
**  
 _And I stopped it. Diverting weapons by minute degrees is something I mastered long ago. You hit nothing and the fire will stop the bleeding.  
_  
 **She would still be crippled or worse.  
**  
 _And it will all be my fault. I will accept his anger, but I must meet him first. Even if he doesn't see me, I must at least see him_ once. _Even if for the last time.  
_  
 **What odds that he survived? He is weak and foolish.  
**  
 _I believe in him.  
_  
 **...I expected nothing else from you.  
**  
 _We will leave tomorrow. Even if every single thing went wrong, even if every plan failed, we still got through this. Out of Salem's eyes-  
_  
 **And Ozpin's.  
**  
- _And we know everything we need to know. The moment we are sure that Jaune,Nora, Ren, Ruby, Weiss and Yang are all safe, we will find the Relic. Salem must not have it.  
_  
 **Neither must Ozpin...but I agree. Neither of them deserves the Relic. Come dawn, and we will leave at once. I have my old safehouse in Mistral and contacts that neither Salem nor my disciples know about-  
**  
 _And I have to see my friends for the last time. See Jaune one last time. And then-_

 **We will fulfil our Destiny.**

* * *

 **And now, I think, I can explain the "style" of this fic.**

 **This fic will be written in a "flashback" form. I will first write a scene that acts as a kind of "conclusion" to a story, all the while leaving hints that will explain what happened. Following that,I will write the "flashback" that will flesh out the reasons for aforementioned conclusion. This will make a continuous reverse continuity where the present and past will be revealed simultaneously.**

 **Since my explanation is extremely convoluted, I will explain in an easier way. The first "conclusion" was the farm where Jaune and Cinder have had a child after the series, with Cinder having Pyrrha's mannerisms. The explanation was contained in this chapter. Similarly, the conclusion of this chapter is Cinder surviving the Battle of the Vault, along with Pyrrha (no point in hiding it now) apparently being on somewhat cordial terms with her despite a little friction being obvious.**

 **This is a rather experimental form of writing that I wished to try. I sincerely hope you like the fic nevertheless.:)**


End file.
